This is in respect to the prevailing prices of the LG OLED touchscreen panels which now stands at $500 and will be used in these Apple tablet computers. Since this will account for roughly 30% of the overall price of the unit, if Apple pushes through with the original date, the production cost of the Apple iTablet could range somewhere between $1500 to 1700 which is quite steep. So, as a compromise, since prices of touchscreen displays are expected to considerably drop heading towards 2011, a delayed release will have a significant effect in lowering the over-all price of these tablet Mac computers.

Two models were mentioned in the report: a 9.7-inch OLED equipped tablet, and a larger 10.6-inch LCD variant. Of course, being that this is from Digitimes, we’re taking this bit of news with a grain of salt and classifying this under the rumor category unless we hear otherwise.

[digitimes via giz]

The article mainly centers on the history of iphone jailbreaking and unlocking with George Hultz, or better known as master Geohot in the iPhone jailbreak community, as the focal character. It talks of how the jailbreak movement has grown and changed, the birth of Cydia courtesy of Jay Freeman (aka Saurik) to rival the App Store, and why Apple can’t legally put a stop to the jailbreak movement.

It’s a pretty interesting piece if you want to know more about the iPhone jailbreak front, and I strongly agree with the quote they got from JerseyBama of Soundoff:

“I’m convinced Steve Jobs is two people - one is a genius, the other is an idiot. If he had not locked the iPhone into AT&T, almost everyone would be using an iPhone today.”

For those who wan to unlock their iPhones, you can to try the blacksn0w iPhone unlock, the only unlock that works with iPhone 3.1.2 firmware complete with baseband 05.11.07. For jailbreaking, you can either use Geohot’s blackra1n iPhone jailbreak or the iPhone Dev Team’s iPhone 3.1.2 jailbreak.

Do be careful though as it’s been discovered that a juvenile Rick Astley iPhone worm and a more serious Privacy.A iPhone Worm are now floating around.

[via cnn]

Aside from HTC, they are the only two other phone makers who managed to improve on their performance last year and by a significant margin at that. With a better featured iPhone 3G S and more affordable iPhone 3G to offer their fans, Apple now owns close to a fifth of new smartphones in the market. RIM, for their part, has made their QWERTY smartphones more accessible to the public with the introduction of the Curve 8520 and is also trying to tap the touchscreen generation with their latest full-touchscreen offering, the BlackBerry Storm 2.

The game is certainly changing, but hope is not lost for Samsung and company. With Android now all grown up and more mature, this new open OS will surely play vital role in helping the other phone makers stay competitive in the market.

[arstechnica via gizmodo]

Whatever you say about finger-tap input on a mobile device, no one can deny that styluses are more efficient for scribbling words. Leaked documents from Apple suggest that pen-input is forthcoming on an Apple device. Perhaps this is on the iPhone and iPod Touch, perhaps on the iPhone 4G. Even more exciting, an Apple Tablet? The document shows a patent application for “ink information” recognition for a stylus-based computer. Is hand-writing recognition imminent on the iPhone, the iPhone 4G. Or is this new patent application in preparation for the iTablet? Whatever it is, I’m glad Apple is still going forward, not just on profits and market domination but in technology,expecially in hardware.

[via engadget]

I take it OPPO means to broadcast to the world that they didn’t steal the designe of the Philips Luxe Bluetooth MP3 player.

Try in the model based on the combined number of high-end perfume bottle design inspiration, the effect diagram has been revised many times, the effect of the first draft of the final map was born.

The GoGear Luxe happens to be one of our most popular search trends last year, and with good reason we believe. The OPPO X1 apparently didn’t evolve effortlessly. It’s birthing was painful, an almost epic coming out from raw idea–

Original design inspiration, was born in OPPO artists and designers in Japan, a Japanese high-end encounters the brand make-up bottles, beautiful curves and fantastic color transition, bring immense good association. To create a “beautiful,” MP3! The original dream of the resulting embryo.

to the thing of beauty that it is today. Of course, once you find the perfect design idea, you need materials:

In order to show the effect of X1-clear out the initial production of selected models of glass processing lens, but because technology to limit it only uses straight cut, not the performance of a sense of the beautiful arc cutting.Glass lens processing the idea of the cancellation.

And how to achieve the desired effect of colors on a crystalline material?

Color is the first visual impact. X1 style from the lens mounted in the middle with color-plated hollow boxes and buttons in product segmentation. Lens color design, decided to form a first impression of the product. So the color on, X1 after several attempts, from the solid color, to color, to the final gradient.

All these research means the possible SRP for the X1 Music Crystal would not be cheap–dare I say, even iPodian? Well, you have to know how to read between the lines…

The way the beautiful transformation, the birth of the music crystal OPPO X1, X-series name, a symbol of the return of sound quality, and the origin of most of the music, the most simple pursuit. Full of beauty and love of the X1, is a couple hand heart a radiance scenery.

[via imp3]

“AT&T’s ’sweetheart’ carrier subsidy (~$450) for the iPhone would not be attainable at Verizon,” said Marshall in the note. “[But] diverse carrier support is a key element in driving global penetration of the iPhone. We believe the chances are high the iPhone will find its way onto the Verizon network in the second half of 2010.”

When Apple does stop selling the iPhone for AT&T’s GSM network, Marshall predicts Apple will lose significant chunk of the subsidy money, from the $450 per home that AT&T is giving them to only $300 when the iPhone lands on Verizon. The $300 per phone will put the Verizon iPhone on the same plane as other smartphones in network deals. In the long run, Marshall believes Apple will gain by about $7 billion, selling about 14 million iPhone by 2011. It will be AT&T’s big loss to the tune of half a million subscribers every quarter.

“Everyone is dissatisfied with AT&T on the iPhone, not only on voice, but data as well, especially in congested cities like New York and San Francisco,” said Marshall, echoing complaints that go back more than two years to the launch of the original iPhone in the summer of 2007. “If Verizon starts selling the iPhone, AT&T is going to have an issue on their hands.”

[via computerworld]

It didn’t come from an Apple employee but an editor at New York Times.
Take his statement with a grain of salt, or head on over to Engadget for the video. The Nieman Journalism Lab has a transcript of what Keller said at the meeting. The relevant passage as follows:

Sixth, we need to figure out the right journalistic product to deliver to mobile platforms and devices. I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that.

Now, I’m sure he doesn’t know anything officially, but what about unofficially?

[NJL via engadget]

[nokia press release via unwiredview]

Don’t be surprised if one day you’ll no longer see Lite or Free versions of certain apps listed in the App Store. This is because Apple has finally lifted the restriction on free iPhone apps and in-app purchases. It used to be that paid apps where the only ones that were allowed to provide in-app purchases, but with this latest development, developers need not send a Full and Lite version of an app for listing at the App Store as they can already consolidate this as just one, a free iPhone app, with the option to purchase the full app later on. This will probably mean very little to majority of you iPhone owners out there, but let this just be a heads up that changes might be in the offing in the App Store as a result of this policy change.

[daring fireball via engadget]

For those not familiar with the whole jailbreaking process, both the iPhone Dev Team and Geohot use the 24kpwn exploit in the iPhone’s bootrom. Many feared it would be patched up in iPhone 3.0, but fortunately, it wasn’t. Now, Apple finally found the time to plug this hole up making new iPhone 3G S units immune to any of the jailbreaks currently available. Of course, it will only be a matter of time before an appropriate jailbreak for this new bootrom is cooked up, but this is definitely bad news for affected iPhone 3G S owners as it will surely take longer for one to be released to the public.

[via bgr]